Volume 25: 97–99 METAMORPHOSIS ISSN 1018–6490 (PRINT) LEPIDOPTERISTS’ SOCIETY OF AFRICA ISSN 2307–5031 (ONLINE)

NOTE A new locality and larval host plant recorded for exilis exilis (Boisduval, 1852) on the Arabian Peninsula Published online: 01 Octember 2014

Otto, Herbert H.H.

Unit of Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, P. Bag. X6001, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

Copyright © Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa

INTRODUCTION Majer in 2004 (Pittaway et al. 2006). Oman records include those by Gillett (1999) in northern Oman, Brephidium exilis exilis (Boisduval, 1852) was first and Gallagher from [Al] Buraimi and Mahda recorded from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Pittaway et al. 2006), and further records (Muscat, (UAE) by Rutjan and Jongbloed in December 1995 Qurm) were reported by Vis (2010). The latest (Larsen 2000). This , originally described records reported here were made at Sohar on the from the USA (Western Pygmy Blue) probably Omani coast, ca. 200 km NW of Muscat, capital of became established on the Arabian Peninsula as Oman (see Fig. 1). immature stages contained in imported plant cultivars from the USA (Pittaway et al. 2006). Other OBSERVATIONS UAE records include Ajman, Al-Ain, Dubai, Das th Island, Fujairah (ibid.), and Marawah Island off the 30 August 2014 (Day 1) Abu Dhabi coast (Gillett 2002; Feulner 2003). Saudi During an initial survey at approximately 10 am of Arabia records include Dhahran and Al Qatif by an Al-Tareef wadi (river, or dry riverbed) of the

Figure 1 – Localities for Brephidium exilis in the United Arab Emirates and Oman

Received: 5 September 2014 coastal town of Sohar in northern Oman, two freshly Accepted: 01 October 2014 emerged B. exilis males were observed territorially ‘guarding’ two separate prostrate plants of Zaleya Copyright: This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 pentandra (L.) C. Jeffrey (Aizoaceae). These plants, Unported License. To view a copy of this license, send a recorded from arid regions, were prominently letter to Creative Commons, Second Street, Suite 300, San positioned on a gentle sandy slope of the wadi bank Francisco, California, 94105, USA, or visit: http://creative in close proximity to another flowering plant, commons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ although when the B. exilis males alighted on this

Otto/ Metamorphosis 25: 97–99 98 plant, no nectaring was observed. Each of the two males established a territory around a Z. pentandra plant, and warded off any intruding , returning to the original plant and not venturing much further afield. The initial photographs of the male B. exilis were of inferior quality and a second series was taken at about 4 pm of Day 1. At that time one of the B. exilis males was still present in the area and it settled on dried Abutilon plant stems 2 m away from the Z. pentandra plants. Cirrus and stratus cloud cover now prevailed, and together with the somewhat cooler conditions of approaching evening the male butterfly was induced to take refuge on the lower Figure 3 – ♀ B. exilis perching on Z. pentandra branchlets of the Abutilon plants, readying itself to overnight in this position, thus allowing several photographs to be taken.

Figure 4 – ♀ B. exilis ovipositing on Z. pentandra

5th September 2014 (Day 3) The same wadi was visited between 8 and 10 am, and around 9 am a Figure 2 – ♂ B. exilis underside while nectaring female B. exilis oviposited on the underside of a leaf

st of a different Z. pentandra plant (Fig. 5). 1 September 2014 (Day 2) This plant had a circumference of about 1.5 m and At about 10 am B. exilis was not present where they had been seen on Day 1, but about 50 m away around a cultivated bean (Phaseolus sp.) field, at least three B. exilis were seen around five Z. pentandra plants. Sometimes a pair of males interacted with aerial displays of supremacy, and then they would nectar intensely at different locations approximately 7 m apart on a spreading plant with tiny purple clustered flowers (Fig. 2). To conserve energy, a male was observed crawling from flower to flower to avoid flying. A minute white whirring of butterfly wings in a flurry whirled past, and was nearly invisible in flight only to reappear a little later, briefly inspecting the random spreading plants of Z. pentandra on the arid soil. Figure 5 – Ovum of B. exilis laid on Z. pentandra

Eventually the butterfly settled on a twig of a plant was fairly dense and situated on an elevated sandy with a small circumference of about 20cm (Fig. 3). wall at the edge of the bean field. The location of She moved to position her abdomen to the underside this plant was about 15 m away from the first plant of a leaf, ovipositing her first egg and then a second seen on Day 1 and 30 m away from the plants seen on a different leaf (Fig. 4). on Day 2. Nearly 3 m away on the same soil A little later, on a second plant of a larger and denser retaining wall there was another established Z. spread of prostrate branches, some 50 cm radius and pentandra plant with a circumference close to 3 m. merely 2 m from the first plant, a female settled again. It is difficult to differentiate whether there Climatic conditions were two ovipositing females or merely one since The maximum temperatures recorded in the Muscat/ both females were fresh and had no distinguishing Sohar area were between 37° C (Day 1) and 42° C wing damage. This female settled on a branchlet and (Day 3). subsequently moved down along it to the base (a different approach to the first female, yet not GPS co-ordinates unusual). It inspected the axil between leaf petiole The observation sites at the Al-Tareef wadi had the and twig then oviposited on flower buds and later on following GPS co-ordinates: the undersides of two different leaves. Otto/ Metamorphosis 25: 97–99 99

Day Latitude Longitude Altitude flowering in Oman during August and September – (dd: mm) (dd: mm) (m) perhaps following northern hemisphere seasons. In 1 24° 21.420 N 56° 43.206 E 9 2 24° 21.409 N 56° 43.234 E 16 Qatar the plant is a rare introduced weed of 3 24° 21.418 N 56° 43.221 E 17 wastelands, with flowering times from December to March (Norton et al. 2009). Perhaps locally DISCUSSION Z. pentandra starts to flower in autumn and may well flower all year round. In such hot and arid Adult B. exilis behaviour conditions B. exilis may also be more abundant from The competitive territorial male behaviour observed autumn through the milder winter months, appears to have the goal of intercepting a female coinciding with the flowering period for the searching for the LHP. northern hemisphere. Female oviposition on a plant requires confirmation that it is a LHP, which comes from visual, olfactory, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS tactile and gustatory cues (Otto 2014b). Repeated oviposition on the same plant species confirms the Torben Larsen is thanked for his comments on the plant as a LHP (Otto 2014b). Here female(s) were original manuscript, and the editor for proof-reading observed to oviposit five eggs on two different and layout of the article. Thank you also to Talal Al- Z. pentandra plants on Day 2 and another single egg Farsi and Ewald Groenewald for installing computer on a Z. pentandra plant at a separate place on Day 3. programs; Stephen Brole for use of maps and supplying temperature information; and Sohar Host plants of B. exilis International School for their support. The known larval host plants (LHPs) for B. exilis in the USA are members of the genera , LITERATURE CITED Chenopodium, and other members of the family (Wikipaedia – Brephidium exilis). COCKBURN, K.N.A Observations on the larval In the UAE, B. exilis the genera Artiplex and Salsola host plant and life history of the Dwarf Blue, are confirmed LHPs (Pittaway et al., 2006). B. exilis Oraidium barberae Trimen, 1868 (: is also suspected to use the genera Sesuvium and Polyommatinae). Metamorphosis 24: 12–14. Trianthema from the plant family Aizoaceae FEULNER, 2003. Two new butterfly sightings from (Pittaway et al. 2006). The observations reported the Musandam region. Tribulus 12(1): 30. here are the first confirmed record of B. exilis using GILLETT, M.P.T. 1999 Preliminary notes on some an Aizoaceae species – Z. pentandra. newly recorded butterflies from the UAE and adjacent parts of northern Oman (: Distribution of B. exilis and its host plants Rhopalocera). Tribulus 9(1): 22–23. The establishment and rapid expansion of B. exilis’s GILLETT, M.P.T. 2002 Occurrence of the Western range was explained by Pittaway et al. (2006), who Pygmy Blue butterfly Brephidium exilis described the extensive introduction of some of [Boisduval] on offshore islands of Abu Dhabi, B. exilis’s host plants into the region for use as including Marawah Island (Lepidoptera: fodder and for land reclamation. Lycaenidae). Tribulus 12(2): 20–21. B. exilis has now been confirmed to use an LARSEN, T.B., 2000. Hazards of butterfly introduced Aizoaceae species (Zaleya pentandra), collecting - late 1999. What is Brephidium exilis and this is an additional reason for its rapid doing in the Emirates? Entomologist's Record expansion in the Arabian Peninsula region. and Journal of Variation 112(6): 273–274. Z. pentandra appears to be well adapted to the NORTON, J., ABDUL MAJID, S., ALLAN, D., AL prevailing very hot, arid conditions. Several plants SAFRAN, M., BÖER, B. & RICHER, R. 2009. with varying degrees of radiating growth patterns An Illustrated Checklist of the Flora of Qatar. were found, varying in circumference from Browndown Publications, Gosport, UK. 96 pp. approximately 20 cm to 3 m. It was found here in OTTO, H.H.H. 2014a. Butterflies of the Kruger close proximity to cultivated beans (possibly serving National Park and surrounds. Struik, Cape as cattle fodder) and it may be spreading locally Town. (E-book). through distribution of crop cultivars. It was OTTO, H.H.H. 2014b. Applying lepidopteran noteworthy that no Z. pentandra plants were noticed oviposition science to establish new butterfly further away from the cultivated field in the natural larval host plants from Mpumalanga and vegetation of the wadi. The larvae of a close relative Limpopo provinces, South Africa. of B. exilis, the South African butterfly Oraidium Metamorphosis 25: 82–89. barberae Trimen 1868, bore into the host plant PITTAWAY, A. R., LARSEN, T.B., LEGRAIN, stems (Cockburn 2013) and if B. exilis larvae have A., MAJER, J. WEIDENHOFFER, Z. & similar habits it would protect them from damage or GILLET, M. 2006. The establishment of an dislodgement during transport. American butterfly in the Arabian Gulf: Brephidium exilis (Boisduval, 1852) Phenology of B. exilis and Z. pentandra (Lycaenidae). Nota Lepidopterologica 29(1/2): Zaleya pentandra is known in South Africa as 3–14. African Purslane, a prostrate evergreen herb found VIS, R. 2010. Recent geographic range expansion of in disturbed soils. The leaves have a distinctive basal Brephidium exilis (Boisduval, 1852) sheath on the petiole, with the inconspicuous pink (Lycaenidae) in Oman, Arabian Peninsula. Nota axillary flowers appearing from December to June lepidopterologica 33(1): 133–134. (Otto 2014a). The present observations indicate